By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
The National Coordinator -National Task Force on Drugs and Substance Abuse, Dr. Foday Sahr has disclosed that over 70% of Kush users will be sent to school or be empowered for job opportunities.
He was giving updates on the activities of his office at the Ministry of Information and Civic Education’s press briefing hosted at the Foreign Affairs conference hall in Freetown on 7th of May this year.
He explained how Social Welfare,Technical and Higher Education and Youth Affairs ministries will provide return-to-school package, skills training programmes and job placements to users of kush and other harmful substances.
Following the guidance of inter-ministerial committee on kush, he said the task force had established a “robust” structure and gone to the provinces to identify resources available for each district and engage with district leaders to know the magnitude of the kush issue in their different districts.
He said they plan to reduce kush availability by 80%. He also added the task force will conduct community outreach events on kush across all the sixteen districts. “We intend to establish one treatment centre and two rehabilitation centres in each of the districts in the next one year,” Sahr disclosed.
He emphasized how the prevalence of drug abuse has increased by 1,800% between 2020 and 2023, with kush intake having increased by 3,000%.
He said the national emergency response is headed by President Julius Maada Bio, followed by the Inter -ministerial Committee, National Coordinating Committee and Situation room, and that the task force acts on five pillars as per declaration by the President. The five pillars include public information and risk communication, community engagement, care and treatment, as well as rehabilitation and reintegration.
“The second campaign is to target frontline responders, families and young people and to also conduct knowledge and attitude survey,” he added.
The third campaign will address post-treatment opportunities, map out and secure resources for response activities. ”The last one is to strengthen drug control laws,” he noted, emphasizing that some of the drug laws are old, and should be reviewed. Sahr called on all citizens to help fight against drug abuse.
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